Whispering through the ‘Whispers That Roared’ by Sazina Khan
This collection of 100 poems captures the essence of the struggles women face and the extraordinary power they summon to transcend them. Whispers That Roared is more than poetry; it is a testament to the unbreakable spirit of women. It draws from their battles fought in shadows, their victories claimed in silence, and their dreams nurtured in the face of despair. This book is an invitation to listen, to feel, and to honor the stories of those who have whispered long enough and are now roaring with the force of their truth.
Let these words move your soul and stir your heart, for within these pages lies the strength of a world carried by women. We got a chance to speak to the author Sazina Khan about her book, and here is what she has to say-
1. What sparked the idea for Whispers That Roared?
The genesis of Whispers That Roared lies in the unseen labor of emotional endurance, particularly in women’s lives. I was moved by how society often equates silence with submission, when in reality, silence can be a strategy of survival, resilience, and even quiet defiance. The book was inspired by the emotional negotiations women make daily—smiling through heartbreaks, working through grief, and enduring erasure while holding families, institutions, and dreams together.
In my years of living in Dubai, I’ve shared coffee with an Afghan poet who wrote verses in exile, listened to an Emirati grandmother recount bedtime folktales that survived colonization, and met Filipina nannies whose strength was never documented but lived on in the lives of the children they raised. Their stories—diverse in language, faith, and circumstance—carried an astonishing common thread: the quiet courage it takes to persist. While traveling through the Alhambra in Spain, I was struck by the silent grandeur of a once-glorious civilization—its poetry carved into walls, its beauty preserved through ruin. I carried that imagery back with me, and it wove itself into the architecture of this book.
2. Which lived experience or story behind one of these poems still surprises you when you revisit it?
The poem Stitched Wounds, Silent Lips still haunts me. It was inspired by a woman I met during a women’s leadership summit—elegant, articulate, a force in the corporate world. Later that evening, over tea, she shared the unspeakable: years of surviving domestic violence, raising two daughters under a veil of normalcy, and finally walking away without ever telling the world why. That story carved itself into my spirit. When I revisit the poem, what surprises me is how deeply I internalized her duality—her bruised vulnerability stitched invisibly beneath her tailored success. It reminds me that many of the strongest women walk through fire in silence, and we may never know until their scars begin to sing through stories.
3. Walk us through your process: do you brainstorm, free-write, or let the poem emerge fully formed?
My process is a dialogue between the conscious and the subconscious. For Whispers That Roared, I often began with a moment—an image, a fragment of conversation, or a headline about a silenced woman or a mother hiding her tears behind her child’s triumph. Some poems arrived like fully formed confessions; others required excavation—unearthing layers of metaphor and memory. I don’t write on demand; I listen, observe, and absorb until the emotion matures into language. At times, I would free-write in longhand, letting the rhythm of my breath guide the ink, especially when addressing trauma or resilience. Poetry, for me, is not about invention—it is about revelation.
4. Among the 100 poems, which one do you feel would “roar” most loudly if it could speak for itself, and why?
‘Her Name Was Courage’ would undoubtedly rise above the rest in its roar. It is the story of a girl denied education, married young, silenced for years, and yet—one day—she opened a small classroom under a tree to teach other girls to read. That poem is both a lament and a legacy. If it could speak, it would echo the battles fought in kitchens, courtyards, and courtrooms by women who never had microphones but changed generations through quiet revolutions. This poem doesn’t raise its voice with rage—it lifts it with purpose. And that kind of courage, born not from rebellion but from reclamation, reverberates far beyond the page.
5. How do you balance personal stories with themes that resonate universally, considering the anthology is a collection of poems?
Balancing the deeply personal with the universally resonant is not merely a literary strategy—it is an emotional imperative. I believe that when you tell the truth of one soul with honesty and depth, it carries echoes of a thousand others. Many of the poems draw inspiration from real women—mothers who crossed borders carrying their children and nothing else, daughters who defied generational silence, and widows who refused to be erased by grief. In telling their stories through a poetic lens, I allowed my own truths to stretch beyond individual experience and tap into the deeper, shared well of human emotion.
6. What do you hope readers feel when they finish reading Whispers That Roared?
I hope they feel witnessed—in the most profound and human sense of the word. Not merely observed or analyzed, but truly seen. I want readers, especially women, to feel as if someone has reached into the unspoken chambers of their hearts and named the emotions they had no language for. Whether it’s the quiet ache of invisible labor, the hidden sorrow of dreams deferred, or the triumphant reclaiming of one’s voice after years of suppression—Whispers That Roared is meant to hold those truths with tenderness and dignity. I hope they feel reignited. I want this book to serve as a soft rebellion against the normalization of silence.
7. Are there interpretations of your poems that surprised you—ways readers saw something different than you intended?
Absolutely—and one interpretation, in particular, left a lasting impact. A reader once shared how the poem Fighting Shadows mirrored her struggle with postpartum depression. She said something I’ll never forget: “Sometimes shadows aren’t from the past. They’re cast by your own present.” That interpretation expanded the poem for me. I saw, in her reading, a whole new dimension of truth.
8. Did you ever face a creative block during this project, and what unconventional thing did you try to break through?
Yes, I did—and not just once. Writing about deeply personal themes—grief, silence, generational pain—often brought me to emotional standstills. There were times when the words simply wouldn’t come. The feelings were there, the urgency was real, but the page remained blank. Over the years, I’ve learned not to panic during these phases. I don’t force productivity. Instead, I pause, shift my energy, and immerse myself in activities that reconnect me to presence. At other times, I turn to travel or reflection through solitude. I’ve also found that cooking, arranging flowers, or simply reading something completely unrelated to my own work—like philosophy or children’s stories—gently nudges me back into flow. Creative blocks, for me, are no longer barriers; they are signals. They tell me it’s time to feel rather than articulate, to receive rather than produce.
9. If the poems could deliver a single message to the world, what would it be?
You don’t have to shout to be heard. The essence of Whispers That Roared is this: the world must learn to listen not only to what is said aloud but to what trembles in silence. If my poems had one unified message, it would be this: even the faintest voice matters. And when it finds the courage to speak—even if unsure, even if quivering—it can challenge narratives, rewrite destinies, and move mountains. Strength is not always in the volume of what we say, but in the truth we dare to speak.
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From the Editor's desk
Vanshika Gupta